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Friday, 9 May 2014

"The only workout you'll ever regret is the one you didn't do"

How very true this is. Last night I grabbed my running gear and left it in a pile by my wardrobe door, set the alarm for 5.15am, and went to bed with thoughts of a 15km run with the sunrise peeking up just as I was arriving home. I'd been thinking about it for hours, despite the rain (and at least one thunderclap) of the evening and expected wet forecast for the morning. I woke up at 5.10am and made a split-second decision that I was too tired and could just go for a run the next day instead, turned off my alarm and went back to sleep. When I got up at 7am and looked out the window, not only was it not raining, there was evidence of an amazingly beautiful sunrise that I had just missed. This was confirmed with several stunningly beautiful sunrise pictures popping up in my Twitter feed as I scrolled through it over breakfast. Add to that the chatter on Facebook of my friends completing 18km (Dan) and 34km (Marty) runs this morning, broken up by an hour-long boot camp session in the middle, and the guilt and disappointment in my complete laziness really set in. I very much regret not getting up this morning and running that 15km. I'm pretty sure the sunrise was beautiful just to spite me.

See? Just look at it. Look at it, people!!! (I stole this picture from my Twitter feed - it was taken by a Ms Barbara Cuevas. Because I was too lazy to get up and see it myself. Yes I am bitter. Yes, I am aware that I only have myself to blame.)

With so little running happening of late due to the demands of study (assignments looming) you'd think I'd be bounding out of bed, particularly since I ran an early morning 11km on Wednesday and loved every second of it (sadly, there was no spectacular sunrise because it was overcast and foggy). Note to self: never pay attention to 5am kreachr, listen to the one who thought things through at a more reasonable hour of the day.

I intend to get up early tomorrow morning and run that 15km. What's the bet the sunrise is horribly disappointing, just to piss me off?

Let's look at some other pretty things instead, shall we?

This was an amazingly delicious breakfast I had a few weeks back - bircher muesli topped with fresh figs, apple, walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds.

This breakfast I had the other day - quinoa porridge (made with quinoa flakes) topped with fresh figs (love them!), blueberries, chopped pecans and maple syrup.

This was a ridiculously ginormous 'pancake' I had for breakfast last Saturday. I was tricked in to ordering it after a run session with 'the usual suspects' - we ran a 4km route planned by Dan, then did 2.1km of sprints in four parts, devised by Marty just to torture us. I ended up running my fastest kilometre (3'36") and fastest mile (6'05"), so I earned it! ;) It's the 20 minute pancake from Dominion & Ayr Cafe in Parnell - amazing, but not something I'd tackle alone again. Phew!

Proof that I can wear something other than running gear and sloppy, raggedly-looking trackies - got all dressed up for our friends' wedding last Friday. Dress by Turet Knuefermann. Love those shoes! Horribly uncomfortable though... And yes, I'm still terrible at selfies ^_^

Our friends Ben and Lichelle, getting married after 11 years together - aren't they just perfect? Deane's reading a poem he wrote for the occasion.

Sunset, looking out from Mudbrick on Waiheke where Ben & Lichelle got married.

The view from their accommodation, the morning after. We stayed somewhere else that had crappy views. No biggie, we were only there for about seven hours to shower and sleep...

Deane and I enjoying the last few hours of our kid-free 'date week', on the ferry back from Waiheke after the wedding. It was super windy. Those are not my sunglasses. And is it just me, or does Deane's head look monstrously large compared to mine...?

I missed these crazy nut bars and their weird and wonderful faces!

While they were away I got to visit some friends in Wellington I hadn't seen since we left four years ago, and I had the best time walking around the place and remembering all the stuff I loved about it. Hot chocolate from Scopa (I have never found another that even remotely compares) and coffee from Mojo at the Old Bank Arcade was high on the list, as was breakfast at Leuven (I recommend the Belgian porridge and the sugar waffles - Deane always gets the potato cakes), and a run along the waterfront where I used to run regularly. I did manage to fit in some study while Deane was busy working, although probably not as much as I could've done if I'd stayed home. Although it was just as likely I'd have procrastinated terribly and got nothing done at all... It took me an age to get in to the assignment I'm working on at the moment. It's due next Tuesday, and is a 15 page formal report. 15 PAGES!!! OMG!!! And I thought the 12 page assignment was hard! Ugh. I am making progress though, with the help of my good friend Mr Espresso Machine who resides in my kitchen. This is also the reason why I'm only able to run early mornings or not at all for the foreseeable future. Once this assignment is completed, I have to jump straight in to working on another one for my other paper which is due a week and a half later, and I'm behind on course work for that one. It's an uphill battle. But I'll keep chipping away at it and hopefully will manage to get through it in one piece. I'll be honest and say my brain is pretty sludgy by the time 2.30pm rolls around. My place is a giant filth-pit and the gardens are getting horribly overgrown, but we're not starving so there's a win in there somewhere. I am very thankful I discovered the laundry service, let me tell you! Now I just need a gardener and a housekeeper...

Next weekend is the first XTERRA Auckland event - not sure I mentioned it, but I've signed up for the series. This year there are seven events from May through to September in different forest areas around Auckland. I've entered the 'long' series, so each race is 16-20km. The first up is at Riverhead Forest, and is an estimated 19km. Should be fun! I'm looking forward to it :) I'm also looking forward to the rest of the series, which will keep me motivated throughout the winter months - mud, rain, freezing cold temperatures (well, as cold as Auckland can get anyway, probably not quite freezing) - it's gonna be awesome!! So if you don't hear from me over the next week, you can at least expect a race recap after next weekend. Fun times ahead! Oh, and it will also be good training for my first marathon. XTERRA Waihi, on my 35th birthday. Trying to rope in as many participants as possible, or at least spectators. Not only will it be motivation to actually finish the race, y'all will likely get to see me looking horribly exhausted at the end. Who doesn't want to see that?!?

I didn't enter the Auckland Marathon, or the half marathon. I'm thinking I might volunteer for it instead, so I can cheer everyone else on and hand them useful things like water and stuff. Also, Deane has mentioned that he was considering running the half with a couple of mates, so I want to be there to laugh at him cheer him on from the sidelines and offer encouragement :) There's still six months to go, so I guess it's possible he'll manage to fit in enough training beforehand to get up to the level of fitness required. This should be interesting... ;)

I must away now, I have dinner to cook and a brain to scoop back together so I can continue to write this seemingly never-ending, very challenging, incredibly boring 15 page assignment on information management. Have a great weekend, get out there and run (hopefully at least one of us will manage it), and if you have a mum, spoil her for Mother's Day. I dare say she's earned it :)